300: Rise of an Empire

Can you believe that it has been going on eight years since the film, "300" has graced our multiplexes? I was shocked! This proves that the older one gets, the more time just flies by. Now we have "300: Rise of an Empire", which basically continues where "300" ended. And as long as this, now franchise, keeps making money, there will be more coming our way.

After its victory over Leonidas' 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and of Artemisia (Eva Green) marches towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes' army, based its strength on its fleet, led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and his second in command, Aesyklos (Han Matheson). Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta led by Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) whose might lies with its superior infantry troops. But Xerxes still reigns supreme in numbers over sea and land. Still, in fewer numbers, can the Greeks overcome Xerxes and the Persian Army?

Others to round out the cast are Callan Mulvey as Scyllias, David Wenham as Dilios, a Spartan, Jack O'Connell as Calisto, Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes, Igal Naor as King Darius, and Andrew Pleavin as Daxos.

This was intensely directed by Noam Murro ("Smart People" '08, "HBO Imagine" (TV short) '09). I believe Murro's largest task with this production was to keep the same or similar feel of Zack Snyder's "300", and he succeeded more than enough. The grit, the gratuitousness in this matched the first installment to the letter. It was written by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad ("300" '06) which was based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Same writers equals the same feel. Other than a couple of choppy areas in script, this cut right to the chase and it MOVED!. One of the stars here was Fractured FX, inc, in charge of the incredible, over-the-top special effects makeup. The last time I've seen makeup effects this intense was since...well, "300". It looks like these guys had a ball creating these effects which were aplenty. This film is not for the squeamish, hence it is based on a graphic novel.
Another star was the cinematographer, Simon Duggan ("I, Robot" '04, "Underworld: Evolution" '06, "Live Free or Die Hard" '07, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" '08, "Knowing" '09, "Killer Elite" '11, "The Great Gatsby" '13). Larry Fong shot "300", and Duggan almost matched the same style of the first installment perfectly.

Certainly if you liked "300", you'll love this and visa versa. The film is obviously not for everyone, but if you like incredible visuals, cinematography, and amazing makeup effects with a fairly strong premise, you should see this.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                         Rated: R                            103mins.